Now, in a recent press junket interview, he’s trended more to the negative side of the Force, saying:

Frankly if we do a Black Widow movie after Age of Ultron, when she’s been central in three or four movies I don’t think we’d get the quote unquote credit for it. People would say ‘She’s already a big giant superhero!’ But if we had a great idea, we’d do it.

And:

I think [Black Widow] has a central leading role in [Captain America: The Winter Soldier]. What people are really saying is ‘When are you doing a standalone female superhero movie?’ The answer is: I don’t know. We only do two a year, we know more or less what’s coming up through ‘16/’17. With Widow what’s great is the interaction with all the team members, and the question is whether we want to pluck her out of that.

I’m very proud of the way the Marvel movies handle the female characters who are in all the movies we are making, as opposed to feeling the pressure of ‘When are you doing a female movie?’ We’re exploring a lot of Widow, and that’s going to continue with Age of Ultron in a big way.

Say what now? Her being a “big giant superhero” is exactly the reason she deserves her own movie! And all this bullpucky about how “But our female characters are already so great!”… yes. They are. And that’s a reason to keep them on the sidelines why?

This quote meshes with something Scarlet Johansson said in an interview of her own, namely that Black Widow, frustrated at the lack of a film to call her own, has started taking over dudes’ movies: “I was trying to get them to switch the name of this film for so long. I wanted it to be like ‘Captain America (But It’s Really a Widow Movie)’ in parentheses.”

Give us the movie. Give. Us. The. Movie.

However, it wouldn’t be Hollywood if we weren’t strung along a bit: After laying the groundwork for Black Widow-related disappointment, Feige decided to build up the hopes of Captain Marvel fans, saying: “… I like the idea if we’re going to do a [female lead], do a new one. Do a wholly new character, do an origin story… We’ve talked a lot about [Captain Marvel]. I think that would be very cool.”

“I like the idea.” “I think that would be very cool.” KEVIN MIDDLE NAME FEIGE. Are you a mere fanboy? No. You are the President of the damn company. If Marvel Studios wanted to make a female superhero movie, they could and they would. I was hopeful that maybe all Feige’s circumspection about a Black Widow movie was just a coy cover for a post-Winter Soldier announcement, but now I’m not so sure. And Badass Digest says their sources indicate a Captain Marvel introduction to the MCU in late Phase Two/early Phase Three, which, paired with Feige’s quotes here, would seem to indicate that they’re moving in the direction of an eventual Captain Marvel movie. But excuse me for being cynical.

I’m going to go ahead and accept it as a given that just about everyone reading this wants Marvel Studios to do a female superhero movie. So let me ask you another question: Do you think it’ll actually happen? Will it be officially announced in the next year? The next three years? I’d be interested in what you think on the matter. Because on the one hand: Fans have been vocal about wanting a superheroine movie, and if Marvel Studios really wanted to do one, they’ve had ample opportunity. But all this hinting about Captain Marvel has to be leading to something… right?